Allahpundit hit this one last night, but if I don’t include this in Sunday’s OOTW poll, I’ll get a bunch of grief about it in the comments.  So here we go with this week’s final entry, hat-tipped to … President Obama himself:

When I think about what we’ve done well and what we haven’t done well,” the president said, “the mistake of my first term – couple of years – was thinking that this job was just about getting the policy right. And that’s important. But the nature of this office is also to tell a story to the American people that gives them a sense of unity and purpose and optimism, especially during tough times.”…

Pressed by Rose about what he felt he needed to explain better to the American people, the president corrected that he wanted to do more “explaining, but also inspiring.”

Be sure to read last night’s post if you missed it, especially the part in which AP wrote that this sounded as lame as responding to a job interview question about what your biggest weakness is, and replying that you “try too hard.”  But there’s a subtext to this answer, especially since Obama strongly implies that all of his policy choices have been correct, and it hasn’t been enough to get his brilliance through our thick skulls.  He’s shifting blame for his unpopularity from his own performance to a shortcoming of ours — for not perceiving his awesomeness.

Personally, I’m more interested in policy and performance.  With joblessness stagnating at high levels, civilian participation in the workforce at 30-year lows, and the economy sliding back toward recession after the worst recovery in post-WWII US history, all of the storytelling in the world won’t help Obama sell his performance as a “good, solid B-plus.”

Update: Drew M at Ace’s place picks up the same it’s-your-fault-you-don’t-see-my-awesomeness message from Obama’s admission, and Slublog added it in this graphic that ties it further to my point:

Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at [email protected] with the quote and the link to the Obamateurism. I’ll post the best Obamateurisms on a daily basis, depending on how many I receive. Include a link to your blog, and I’ll give some link love as well. And unlike Slate, I promise to end the feature when Barack Obama leaves office.

Illustrations by Chris Muir of Day by Day. Be sure to read the adventures of Sam, Zed, Damon, and Jan every day!